This news will answer the question: Is Victoria's Secret rival lingerie brand, Frederick's of Hollywood, struggling again?
Apparently, the company, founded by Frederick Mellinger, who had once declared bankruptcy and came back in 2003, is having financial struggle again for so many years now, that it decides to close all stores, reports Los Angeles Times.
On the retailer's website, "We no longer have store locations," the Frederick's of Hollywood Group Inc. informed its patrons, notes the outlet.
The Los Angeles lingerie brand, which set foot on the county since 1947 and tried hard competing to Victoria's Secret, is focused on just selling its products online but states that "its online store offered the same selection of merchandise," LA Times notes. This means that the lingerie brand has chosen to forego operations on all 94 shops it has listed last year.
Is This a Good Move?
Ron Friedman, a Marcum consulting firm expert, observed how Frederick's lost the battle with its more favored competitor. Friedman said to LA Times, "as a company, I think they became old and stale, Victoria's Secret has been a home run compared to them."
However, the expert said that this decision may bring the company good, provided it has the right business campaign on its chosen media. "An online business is nothing more than another retail store without fixed rent. They have to really focus and hire people that really understand the online business, " Friedman told LA Times.
Yet, a study by Ripen eCommerce showed that 92% of the more than 1000 respondents said that they prefer offline shopping than online purchases, iMedia Connection reported.
The leading reason is that shoppers just want to see or feel the product in real life and another major reason is that respondents also want to receive the product immediately. Others are also concerned about their privacy especially since they have to give important information such as addresses and card numbers. Some shoppers reasoned offline purchases will yield no shipping costs and will make them deal with easier product returns in the future, just in case they are not satisfied with the product.
Thus, companies going online must find ways to address these specific problems. That's why it is not a surprise that some companies, although they believe in online selling, still invest on offline markets, as reported by Marketing Pilgrim.
In Frederick's case, since it will go full-time in selling over the Web, we still have to see if it it will be able to combat the odds. However, with the rising rents in the market this month as reported by The Wall Street Journal ---take note, brought about in part, by online companies seeking offline presence--- maybe what really matters most for Frederick's of Hollywood this time is just to keep afloat. One way of doing that of course, is taking out rent in the equation.
